Author's notes: This is the second part of the night long ICIM conversation
that Sunrise and I had. It has a few parts that are quite silly, and cute,
I think. Blame those on us for writing this between four and six am.
I've been trying to get down To the heart of the matter But the flesh is so weak And the ashes all scatter But I think it's about Forgiveness, forgivness Even if, even if You don't love me anymore
Buffy stood at Spike's crypt. It took her a minute to remove her hand from the doorknob. She knocked. And knocked again. The fact that it was two, the time Passions was on, AND it was nice and bright out made her worry. Wincing at breaking her promise, although, technically, her mind said, she HAD knocked, she pushed the door open to his crypt. A quick perusal of the upstairs gave her nothing, so she crept down the ladder, saying softly, "Spike?"
She let her eyes adjust to the darkness, not relishing opening them to the gloom of her 'firey egg surprise'. She stood, highly impressed. It was cleaned, mostly, and over 75% of it was redecorated. Slate grey's, bold burgundy pillows, and a navy couch added to the decor. His ratty green chair was still there, she noted with an eyeroll, and her eyes lit on the bed.
The head and baseboards of the bed were stainless steel, and there was a slightly naked Spike under a new blue comforter with red satin sheets. On a hanger, hooked on the baseboard of the bed was a new blue shirt.
She watched him sleep, glad she had this unguarded moment with him. She curled up on the couch to watch him. He would toss, every once in a while, utter a British profanity. His nose twitched twice, and a slow smile curved his lips. Buffy silently groaned. *That* was the killer grin. She also smiled at the incredibly curly dissarray of his hair.
Spike was in a deep sleep, having a really strange dream involving Giles, a blue wedding gown, Mr. Gordo, and a giant chicken.
She smiled foolishly, loving-liking- she told herself sternly the look on his face.
"Look out for the chicken, Rupert!", he said suddenly, sitting bolt upright in bed.
Buffy was shocked shitless. "I knocked!" she cried loudly.
Spike, still being kind of out of it, uttered this utter non sequetur: "What? Where'd the pig with the tennis racket go?"
She stared at him incredulously. "*What*??"
His eyes focused on the couch, and it's totally baffled occupant. "Huh? Buffy? Where did you come from? And how long have you been there?" It was then that it occured to him to shift the blankets slightly, so as not to tempt the new rules.
"I..." She pointed to the ladder blankly. "I knocked. Twice. And called." She looked left, right. "Loudly." She paused, frowned intensely at him. "The pig with a tennis racket??"
He shook his head. "Don't ask. All I remember is a giant chicken in a blue wedding gown chasing Rupert past Mr. Gordo, and he had a tennis racket. I think the hot wings that I had for dinner were bad."
Buffy started giggling. Finally, she wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh my.... hahaha!" A couple of gasps. "Mr. Gordo's revenge...."
Spike tried to be serious, but the imagery got him after a moment, and he collapsed back against the pillows laughing. Recovering somewhat, he looked at Buffy. "It could have been worse..." His mouth twitched. "Rupert could have been wearing the gown..." He started laughing again.
Buffy winced. "Uber-gross, much??"
Spike wiped a tear from his eye. "Yes, but funny."
She shook her head. "Wrong, disgusting and ugly. Yes. Funny, nuh-uh." "Are you awake now?"
"If I'm not then my dreams have started to make sense. And, may I remind you that I'm a vampire? I have a twisted sense of humor."
She allowed him a small grin for that one. "I called a Scooby meeting earlier today." She raised her hand. "I know you're a Scooby now, but I had to do it."
"What was the topic?"
"There are now rules for Scooby etiquette. Listen carefully."
"I'm all ears."
"There are to be no: Spying on, threats made to, nosy questions posed or unsolicited advice given to Spike."
"I like this so far."
"And they know. And you know. And if ANY of said rules are broken, I demand to know about it. I told them. I've told you, so you're to tell me. And I'll take care of it."
He tossed her a playful salute. "Aye, Captain."
She folded her arms. "I'm serious, Spike. Promise you'll tell me."
He smiled at her. "I promise, luv. I do have a question, though."
She arched her brow.
"Which of us is which Scooby? Harris told me once, but I don't think I remember it."
She wrinkled her brow. "I dunno. I don't even think we started calling ourselves that till you insulted us with it."
"Do I get to pick, then? Since you could say that it was my idea."
She laughed. "As long as Willow's Velma."
"That's what I thought. And you're Daphne, and Rupert's Fred, and Harris is Shaggy." He cocked his head sideways. "Wait a minute, does that mean that I'm Scooby-Doo?"
She did a very poor, "Rooby, Rooby-Roo!"
He grinned. "Ruh-roh."
She rolled her eyes. "We suck at imitations."
He laughed. "Scary thing is, I can do a passable Tigger."
Buffy laughed. "Really?"
"Yeah. He was my favorite. Dru was always watching cartoons, and I kind of got sucked in."
She laughed again. "I have a new rule."
"Oh?"
"Well, a very strong suggestion."
"Ok."
"I think we should go on a real date at least once a month, schedules allowing."
He looked at her, slightly suprised. "Really? Like, to the movies, or a restaurant, or something?"
She nodded, pulled her legs up on the couch in front of her, and wrapped her arms around them. "Yeah. If you want to."
He grinned widely. "Of course I do, luv! I've even got all sorts of ideas. With flowers, and limos, and..." He trailed off. "Am I getting sappy again?"
She grinned and held up a hand, her pointer finger and thumb an inch apart.
"Better quit while I'm ahead, then."
"And no limos. Way with the big bucks. I'll just be happy not going to the Double Meat."
A slightly dissapointed look crossed his face. "Oh." He brightened. "But I'm sure that there's alot of things you'd like to do? Maybe we could take turns picking where to go and what to do?"
She smiled back at him. "Sure. That sounds great."
"Wonderful." He reached over, pulled a pair of pants under the covers, slipped into them, then flipped the covers back. "Whew, that's better. I was getting hot."
Buffy swallowed, adding "boxers" to her Christmas list for Spike. "Much better."
He raised his trademark eyebrow. "Did you say something, luv?"
She blinked. "More butter."
"Butter?"
"Going over the grocery list, ya know... makin' cookies for Dawn's lunch." She nodded. "Need butter."
He grinned. She could be so transparent sometimes. "Whatever you say, luv. Do you need any help? With the shopping and cooking, I mean. I could drop by, lend a hand?"
Her mouth was dry, and she was not at all pleased with his smirk. "I think," she said in a snit, "that I can handle a batch of cookies."
He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Have it your way, luv. I only want to help."
"Then put on a shirt for God's sake!"
He stood there, waited for her to realize what she had said.
Her mouth moved, but no words came out. Which was unfortunately not the case three seconds ago, before she had needed to crawl into a hole and die.
Saying nothing, Spike gently removed the new blue shirt from the hanger and slipped it on, keeping it unbuttoned. It was his crypt, after all.
She moaned. "Don't you have an ugly one?"
He grinned. "Are you talking about the shirt?"
Buffy turned on her heel. "I'm going. I just came by to tell you.... the scooby stuff." She began walking towards the ladder.
He caught her arm. "Wait, Buffy. I'm sorry. I'll be good." He released her arm and walked over to a chest of drawers, pulling out a ratty old tee shirt and slipping it on. "Please stay?"
She sighed, glancing at his puppy dog eyes. She plopped back down on the couch. He smiled and sat on the end of the bed. "Now, what would you like to talk about?"
A very nice list of unseemly mean things ran through her mind, but she tamped it down. "That there are two minutes left of Passions.That if you ask nicely, I'll let you borrow my tape, cuz I recorded it."
He smiled again. "Since we're talking about a soap, let's do this right." He dropped to one knee in front of her. "Oh, Buffy," he began, melodramaticly. "I know you think that I attacked you all those years ago, but I want you to know that it was my evil twin! Please, don't keep my tape from me! I will die without it!"
She smacked a hand to her forehead. "Was it? Or are YOU the evil twin?? I don't.... I just don't know, ever since I woke up from my 8 month coma. Perhaps... in time, my darling, you'll see the tape."
He stood up, paced in front of her. "Buffy, you must believe me. I didn't even know about my evil twin untill after you dropped the church on him. I swear to you, I am the true Spike, and I .... love you!" He dropped to one knee again. "Tell me I may see my beloved tape once, just once, before the brain tumor takes my paltry life?"
"Oh, Spike!" She tried to go on, but lost it, laughing at his melodramatic 'tumor' line. "Oh man.... all right... you worked hard for that one. You can watch the tape."
Spike collapsed on the couch next to her, laughing. "Thanks, luv. I knew all those hours spent in front of the telly were good for something. Who says that you only learn stuff on PBS?"
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Who knows."
Almost without thinking, he gently kissed the top of her head and slipped an arm around her.
She smiled softly. Then she tilted her head and bit his shoulder.
"OW!!", he yelped. "What the hell was that for?"
She cuddled back into his shoulder. "For *knowing* you were messing with my head with your nakedness."
Nothing he could say to that. "Well, I thought *I* was supposed to bite. Not you." He gasped, placing a hand over his heart. "Do you have an evil twin, too?"
She nudged him, rolling her head into his shoulder. "Nope. I'm just a jumble of good and bad." She ran her hand down his arm, loosely linked their hands.
He glanced down, and gently squeezed her hand. "Aren't we all?"
"I missed talking to you a lot."
"I missed talking to you, too."
"Remember how we said if I was... comfortable, I could give you massages, too?"
He perked up. This was a suprising line of conversation. "Uh, yeah. Why?" No pressure, he thought.
She grew slightly stiff beside him, ready to accept if he said no. "May.. may I?"
This was still a shock to him, but not enough that he was going to refuse it! "Yeah!", he said. [i]Oops, sounded too excited.[/i] "Uh, that is, if you really want to."
She laughed. "We're really dancing around eachother here, aren't we?"
He chuckled. "Yeah. No pressure. Right? What do you want me to do?"
"Um... just... lose the shirt, and get comfy somewhere."
Spike removed his old teeshirt, and layed on his stomach across the bed. "Like this?"
"Yeah..." She approached him nervously. "Tell me if anything hurts, ok?"
"Okay."
She remembered back to the only time she had ever been to a spa. Placing the heels of her thumbs at the top of his spine at his neck, she made a firm, smooth stroke to his tailbone. She did the exact same thing in reverse, then spread out her hands to knead at the muscles in his back.
Spike's only response was a low moan of pleasure, as well as the beginnings of that deep rumbling purr.
When she finished kneading the muscle of his back, she moved her hands over his shoulders, and rolled them slightly. She pinched softly where they met his neck, then smoothed them.
This recieved a barely auditable "ahh" from the vampire, and the purr got louder.
She repeated this twice, then pushed his head slightly down, his forehead slightly pushing into the comforter. She frowned intensely at his neck, and used her thumbs to rub in small circles across it. Using one hand, she made a kneading motion, then switched back to her thumbs. She moved up slowly into his scalp, smiling at his purring.
He was back to vibrating with the purring, as well as more of those moans.
She moved over his head, massaging in circles, ending at his temples.
He was pressing his head into her hands, purring like a race car. His eyes were closed, and he had a peaceful look on his face. She smiled, not wanting his happy look to fade, so she slowly moved her hands to his ribs, and started to scratch. What happened next suprised both Spike and Buffy. As she scratched his ribs, his left leg started to twitch. She followed the shaking of his leg with her eyes, and scratched a bit more vigorously. In time with her scratching, the leg speeded up. At the same time, the purring got even louder. A triumphant feeling coursing through her, she kept scratching.
Spike was in heaven. No one had ever done anything like this for him before. It was incredible. And, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get that bloody leg to stop!
She happily kept scratching, and leaned forward, placing a tiny kiss on the base of his neck.
Spike felt her lips, and began thanking wherever his soul had come from that a moment of perfect happiness couldn't cause him to lose it. He would have lost it ten times by then.
She slowly wound down her scratching to a soft rubbing, and she finally left off.
After a moment, Spike opened his eyes and rolled over. "Whoa, luv. Have you ever thought about being a professional massuse?" He noticed her amused look. "What's so funny?"
She shook her head. "You're too cute. Like a little puppy having it's belly rubbed."
"What are you talking about?"
She grinned. "The leg floppy thing."
He looked embarrassed. Then he looked up. "What? Peaches never did that? I thought all vamps had that sort of thing."
A shadow fell over her eyes quickly, but she shoved it away. "Angel and I never... Or much or anything. I've never scratched another vampire, to say the least."
He laughed. "Somehow, that doesn't suprise me. Peaches was never the touchy- feely type. Now I, on the other hand, have a bit of a... condition... you might say."
She grinned and perched on the side of the bed. "A condition?"
"Yeah," he said, staying on his back and looking up at her. "When a vampire has been in a very close relationship, for a very long time... Me and Dru, case in point... They develop certain needs." "All vampires love being touched," he continued. "And after awhile, it becomes expected. That's why, after Dru dumped me, I became desperate enough to sire Harm."
Buffy shuddered. "The bane of your existence. Mine, at least..."
"Yeah, but she served her purpose. I needed companionship, and she provided it. Untill I fell in deeper with you Scoobies." He looked at her. "A vamp with this condition is refered to as 'love starved'."
She smiled. "Love's bitch, hmm?"
"More ways than one, luv. For the entirety of my unlife, I will have to have a significant other, or a pack of minions. Something so that I won't be alone. If I'm alone for long, I will quite literally go insane. That's what it means to be love starved." He waited for her reaction. Hoping that she wouldn't think that he had fallen for her because of the condition. It was so much more than that. She had to know.
She thought about his words. Realized he didn't mean that she was... a distraction from starvation. "I guess that just means you'll be an exception to every rule." She smiled. "You're a loving vampire with a soul."
He grinned. "Yeah, I guess I am."
She smiled wryly, touched a hand to his cheek. "Guess I'll just have to keep you."
He gave her a genuine smile, then shifted slightly. He paused every few inches, as if to ask if it was okay, finally, he came to rest with his head in her lap.
Her hand trailed down his arm, back up, and over his back. She pulled her hand away stiffly. "I'm sorry. I just.... I never mean to..."
"Never mean to what, luv?"
She rolled her eyes at herself. "I never mean to keep touching you... I didn't realize that I missed that, too."
"Hey, love starved, remember? I don't mind. Hell, I love it!"
She chuckled softly, kept her hand tracing patterns on his back. "You did a number on my brain when you woke up."
He arched into her hand, the cat impression coming across clear as a bell. "Yeah, sorry about that. Stupid weird dreams."
She grinned. "That wasn't what I- Yeah... stupid wierd dreams."
He smiled at her. "No excuses, luv. What did you mean?"
"Satin sheets, plus naked Spike equals gormet salty goodness. Especially to a love-starved Buffy."
To his credit, he was actually suprised. "Really? I didn't even think about that when I picked them out. I just like satin." He arched an eyebrow at her. "But we have been winding up on eachother's beds alot, lately."
She arched a brow. Said dryly, "Wow, and what a quick way to end it."
He chuckled. "Come on, luv. You're human. Granted, superhuman, but human, none the less. How could you be love-starved? Especially with your pals."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "I might have missed being annoyed to death, and bothered on patrol. And snuggles. There was soooo an absense of snuggles. And smoochies. But.... ya know," she said grandly. "There are always people for that."
He nuzzled his head against her thigh. "I agree about the snuggling, luv." The last sentence sunk in. "Hey! What people?!"
She tried to contain a grin and smiled innocently. "Ya know. People."
"You better start giving me names and addresses, Slayer. I have some "people" to kill!", he ground out. But his tone suggested that he knew he was playing.
She 'Hmphed' him. "Dawn, and Xander, and Willow have been nice with the hugs and smoochies."
He rolled completely onto his back, his head still in her lap. "Well, just tell Harris that if he touches you, a big, scary vampire is going to kick his ass."
She blinked. Looked left. Then right. "Where!? What big scary vampire??"
He gave her a mock hurt look. "Hey! I'm big and scary. And I know I'm a vampire. I've got the fangs and bumps to prove it."
"Whooooo.... big scary vampire..." She intoned sarcastically. "Please don't hurt me..."
"Humph," he snorted, rolling over with his back to her. "I'm scary." That was almost a whisper.
She felt a wave of sympathy run through her. What was a vampire with a soul, but a human without a pulse? It really wasn't fair. She kissed his temple. "You're absolutely terrifying to the evil things you kill all the time. And the people running about who don't know you won't hurt them."
He rolled back over, a small smile on his face. "You really think so? If you weren't the Slayer, and you saw me growl at you, would I scare you? Forget the fact that you've seen my "puppy having it's belly rubbed" impression."
She nodded. "Completely terrified. And when you do the little jump towards the person after you growl? Whoo. No joke, first time you did that, Slayer or not, gave me a major wiggins."
He chuckled. "Now you're just playing with me."
She shook her head. "Hell, no. You scared me so bad. I was glad mom was around to help kick your ass."
Now he laughed out loud. "Ahh. Now that's a woman who was afraid of nothing. I knew she was there, I smelled her, but I never expected the axe."
Buffy grinned. "Mom bitched at me for a week, scaring a year off her life, and why didn't I stake you?" She laughed. "Then she has hot cocoa with you."
"Three separate times." He fingered the guardian angel charm that was still on the chain around his neck. "I'm having a sudden craving for cocoa. How about you, luv?"
She smiled softly. "Totally want the tiny marshmallows."
"You and me both."
TBC....
I've been trying to get down To the heart of the matter But the flesh is so weak And the ashes all scatter But I think it's about Forgiveness, forgivness Even if, even if You don't love me anymore
Buffy stood at Spike's crypt. It took her a minute to remove her hand from the doorknob. She knocked. And knocked again. The fact that it was two, the time Passions was on, AND it was nice and bright out made her worry. Wincing at breaking her promise, although, technically, her mind said, she HAD knocked, she pushed the door open to his crypt. A quick perusal of the upstairs gave her nothing, so she crept down the ladder, saying softly, "Spike?"
She let her eyes adjust to the darkness, not relishing opening them to the gloom of her 'firey egg surprise'. She stood, highly impressed. It was cleaned, mostly, and over 75% of it was redecorated. Slate grey's, bold burgundy pillows, and a navy couch added to the decor. His ratty green chair was still there, she noted with an eyeroll, and her eyes lit on the bed.
The head and baseboards of the bed were stainless steel, and there was a slightly naked Spike under a new blue comforter with red satin sheets. On a hanger, hooked on the baseboard of the bed was a new blue shirt.
She watched him sleep, glad she had this unguarded moment with him. She curled up on the couch to watch him. He would toss, every once in a while, utter a British profanity. His nose twitched twice, and a slow smile curved his lips. Buffy silently groaned. *That* was the killer grin. She also smiled at the incredibly curly dissarray of his hair.
Spike was in a deep sleep, having a really strange dream involving Giles, a blue wedding gown, Mr. Gordo, and a giant chicken.
She smiled foolishly, loving-liking- she told herself sternly the look on his face.
"Look out for the chicken, Rupert!", he said suddenly, sitting bolt upright in bed.
Buffy was shocked shitless. "I knocked!" she cried loudly.
Spike, still being kind of out of it, uttered this utter non sequetur: "What? Where'd the pig with the tennis racket go?"
She stared at him incredulously. "*What*??"
His eyes focused on the couch, and it's totally baffled occupant. "Huh? Buffy? Where did you come from? And how long have you been there?" It was then that it occured to him to shift the blankets slightly, so as not to tempt the new rules.
"I..." She pointed to the ladder blankly. "I knocked. Twice. And called." She looked left, right. "Loudly." She paused, frowned intensely at him. "The pig with a tennis racket??"
He shook his head. "Don't ask. All I remember is a giant chicken in a blue wedding gown chasing Rupert past Mr. Gordo, and he had a tennis racket. I think the hot wings that I had for dinner were bad."
Buffy started giggling. Finally, she wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh my.... hahaha!" A couple of gasps. "Mr. Gordo's revenge...."
Spike tried to be serious, but the imagery got him after a moment, and he collapsed back against the pillows laughing. Recovering somewhat, he looked at Buffy. "It could have been worse..." His mouth twitched. "Rupert could have been wearing the gown..." He started laughing again.
Buffy winced. "Uber-gross, much??"
Spike wiped a tear from his eye. "Yes, but funny."
She shook her head. "Wrong, disgusting and ugly. Yes. Funny, nuh-uh." "Are you awake now?"
"If I'm not then my dreams have started to make sense. And, may I remind you that I'm a vampire? I have a twisted sense of humor."
She allowed him a small grin for that one. "I called a Scooby meeting earlier today." She raised her hand. "I know you're a Scooby now, but I had to do it."
"What was the topic?"
"There are now rules for Scooby etiquette. Listen carefully."
"I'm all ears."
"There are to be no: Spying on, threats made to, nosy questions posed or unsolicited advice given to Spike."
"I like this so far."
"And they know. And you know. And if ANY of said rules are broken, I demand to know about it. I told them. I've told you, so you're to tell me. And I'll take care of it."
He tossed her a playful salute. "Aye, Captain."
She folded her arms. "I'm serious, Spike. Promise you'll tell me."
He smiled at her. "I promise, luv. I do have a question, though."
She arched her brow.
"Which of us is which Scooby? Harris told me once, but I don't think I remember it."
She wrinkled her brow. "I dunno. I don't even think we started calling ourselves that till you insulted us with it."
"Do I get to pick, then? Since you could say that it was my idea."
She laughed. "As long as Willow's Velma."
"That's what I thought. And you're Daphne, and Rupert's Fred, and Harris is Shaggy." He cocked his head sideways. "Wait a minute, does that mean that I'm Scooby-Doo?"
She did a very poor, "Rooby, Rooby-Roo!"
He grinned. "Ruh-roh."
She rolled her eyes. "We suck at imitations."
He laughed. "Scary thing is, I can do a passable Tigger."
Buffy laughed. "Really?"
"Yeah. He was my favorite. Dru was always watching cartoons, and I kind of got sucked in."
She laughed again. "I have a new rule."
"Oh?"
"Well, a very strong suggestion."
"Ok."
"I think we should go on a real date at least once a month, schedules allowing."
He looked at her, slightly suprised. "Really? Like, to the movies, or a restaurant, or something?"
She nodded, pulled her legs up on the couch in front of her, and wrapped her arms around them. "Yeah. If you want to."
He grinned widely. "Of course I do, luv! I've even got all sorts of ideas. With flowers, and limos, and..." He trailed off. "Am I getting sappy again?"
She grinned and held up a hand, her pointer finger and thumb an inch apart.
"Better quit while I'm ahead, then."
"And no limos. Way with the big bucks. I'll just be happy not going to the Double Meat."
A slightly dissapointed look crossed his face. "Oh." He brightened. "But I'm sure that there's alot of things you'd like to do? Maybe we could take turns picking where to go and what to do?"
She smiled back at him. "Sure. That sounds great."
"Wonderful." He reached over, pulled a pair of pants under the covers, slipped into them, then flipped the covers back. "Whew, that's better. I was getting hot."
Buffy swallowed, adding "boxers" to her Christmas list for Spike. "Much better."
He raised his trademark eyebrow. "Did you say something, luv?"
She blinked. "More butter."
"Butter?"
"Going over the grocery list, ya know... makin' cookies for Dawn's lunch." She nodded. "Need butter."
He grinned. She could be so transparent sometimes. "Whatever you say, luv. Do you need any help? With the shopping and cooking, I mean. I could drop by, lend a hand?"
Her mouth was dry, and she was not at all pleased with his smirk. "I think," she said in a snit, "that I can handle a batch of cookies."
He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Have it your way, luv. I only want to help."
"Then put on a shirt for God's sake!"
He stood there, waited for her to realize what she had said.
Her mouth moved, but no words came out. Which was unfortunately not the case three seconds ago, before she had needed to crawl into a hole and die.
Saying nothing, Spike gently removed the new blue shirt from the hanger and slipped it on, keeping it unbuttoned. It was his crypt, after all.
She moaned. "Don't you have an ugly one?"
He grinned. "Are you talking about the shirt?"
Buffy turned on her heel. "I'm going. I just came by to tell you.... the scooby stuff." She began walking towards the ladder.
He caught her arm. "Wait, Buffy. I'm sorry. I'll be good." He released her arm and walked over to a chest of drawers, pulling out a ratty old tee shirt and slipping it on. "Please stay?"
She sighed, glancing at his puppy dog eyes. She plopped back down on the couch. He smiled and sat on the end of the bed. "Now, what would you like to talk about?"
A very nice list of unseemly mean things ran through her mind, but she tamped it down. "That there are two minutes left of Passions.That if you ask nicely, I'll let you borrow my tape, cuz I recorded it."
He smiled again. "Since we're talking about a soap, let's do this right." He dropped to one knee in front of her. "Oh, Buffy," he began, melodramaticly. "I know you think that I attacked you all those years ago, but I want you to know that it was my evil twin! Please, don't keep my tape from me! I will die without it!"
She smacked a hand to her forehead. "Was it? Or are YOU the evil twin?? I don't.... I just don't know, ever since I woke up from my 8 month coma. Perhaps... in time, my darling, you'll see the tape."
He stood up, paced in front of her. "Buffy, you must believe me. I didn't even know about my evil twin untill after you dropped the church on him. I swear to you, I am the true Spike, and I .... love you!" He dropped to one knee again. "Tell me I may see my beloved tape once, just once, before the brain tumor takes my paltry life?"
"Oh, Spike!" She tried to go on, but lost it, laughing at his melodramatic 'tumor' line. "Oh man.... all right... you worked hard for that one. You can watch the tape."
Spike collapsed on the couch next to her, laughing. "Thanks, luv. I knew all those hours spent in front of the telly were good for something. Who says that you only learn stuff on PBS?"
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Who knows."
Almost without thinking, he gently kissed the top of her head and slipped an arm around her.
She smiled softly. Then she tilted her head and bit his shoulder.
"OW!!", he yelped. "What the hell was that for?"
She cuddled back into his shoulder. "For *knowing* you were messing with my head with your nakedness."
Nothing he could say to that. "Well, I thought *I* was supposed to bite. Not you." He gasped, placing a hand over his heart. "Do you have an evil twin, too?"
She nudged him, rolling her head into his shoulder. "Nope. I'm just a jumble of good and bad." She ran her hand down his arm, loosely linked their hands.
He glanced down, and gently squeezed her hand. "Aren't we all?"
"I missed talking to you a lot."
"I missed talking to you, too."
"Remember how we said if I was... comfortable, I could give you massages, too?"
He perked up. This was a suprising line of conversation. "Uh, yeah. Why?" No pressure, he thought.
She grew slightly stiff beside him, ready to accept if he said no. "May.. may I?"
This was still a shock to him, but not enough that he was going to refuse it! "Yeah!", he said. [i]Oops, sounded too excited.[/i] "Uh, that is, if you really want to."
She laughed. "We're really dancing around eachother here, aren't we?"
He chuckled. "Yeah. No pressure. Right? What do you want me to do?"
"Um... just... lose the shirt, and get comfy somewhere."
Spike removed his old teeshirt, and layed on his stomach across the bed. "Like this?"
"Yeah..." She approached him nervously. "Tell me if anything hurts, ok?"
"Okay."
She remembered back to the only time she had ever been to a spa. Placing the heels of her thumbs at the top of his spine at his neck, she made a firm, smooth stroke to his tailbone. She did the exact same thing in reverse, then spread out her hands to knead at the muscles in his back.
Spike's only response was a low moan of pleasure, as well as the beginnings of that deep rumbling purr.
When she finished kneading the muscle of his back, she moved her hands over his shoulders, and rolled them slightly. She pinched softly where they met his neck, then smoothed them.
This recieved a barely auditable "ahh" from the vampire, and the purr got louder.
She repeated this twice, then pushed his head slightly down, his forehead slightly pushing into the comforter. She frowned intensely at his neck, and used her thumbs to rub in small circles across it. Using one hand, she made a kneading motion, then switched back to her thumbs. She moved up slowly into his scalp, smiling at his purring.
He was back to vibrating with the purring, as well as more of those moans.
She moved over his head, massaging in circles, ending at his temples.
He was pressing his head into her hands, purring like a race car. His eyes were closed, and he had a peaceful look on his face. She smiled, not wanting his happy look to fade, so she slowly moved her hands to his ribs, and started to scratch. What happened next suprised both Spike and Buffy. As she scratched his ribs, his left leg started to twitch. She followed the shaking of his leg with her eyes, and scratched a bit more vigorously. In time with her scratching, the leg speeded up. At the same time, the purring got even louder. A triumphant feeling coursing through her, she kept scratching.
Spike was in heaven. No one had ever done anything like this for him before. It was incredible. And, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get that bloody leg to stop!
She happily kept scratching, and leaned forward, placing a tiny kiss on the base of his neck.
Spike felt her lips, and began thanking wherever his soul had come from that a moment of perfect happiness couldn't cause him to lose it. He would have lost it ten times by then.
She slowly wound down her scratching to a soft rubbing, and she finally left off.
After a moment, Spike opened his eyes and rolled over. "Whoa, luv. Have you ever thought about being a professional massuse?" He noticed her amused look. "What's so funny?"
She shook her head. "You're too cute. Like a little puppy having it's belly rubbed."
"What are you talking about?"
She grinned. "The leg floppy thing."
He looked embarrassed. Then he looked up. "What? Peaches never did that? I thought all vamps had that sort of thing."
A shadow fell over her eyes quickly, but she shoved it away. "Angel and I never... Or much or anything. I've never scratched another vampire, to say the least."
He laughed. "Somehow, that doesn't suprise me. Peaches was never the touchy- feely type. Now I, on the other hand, have a bit of a... condition... you might say."
She grinned and perched on the side of the bed. "A condition?"
"Yeah," he said, staying on his back and looking up at her. "When a vampire has been in a very close relationship, for a very long time... Me and Dru, case in point... They develop certain needs." "All vampires love being touched," he continued. "And after awhile, it becomes expected. That's why, after Dru dumped me, I became desperate enough to sire Harm."
Buffy shuddered. "The bane of your existence. Mine, at least..."
"Yeah, but she served her purpose. I needed companionship, and she provided it. Untill I fell in deeper with you Scoobies." He looked at her. "A vamp with this condition is refered to as 'love starved'."
She smiled. "Love's bitch, hmm?"
"More ways than one, luv. For the entirety of my unlife, I will have to have a significant other, or a pack of minions. Something so that I won't be alone. If I'm alone for long, I will quite literally go insane. That's what it means to be love starved." He waited for her reaction. Hoping that she wouldn't think that he had fallen for her because of the condition. It was so much more than that. She had to know.
She thought about his words. Realized he didn't mean that she was... a distraction from starvation. "I guess that just means you'll be an exception to every rule." She smiled. "You're a loving vampire with a soul."
He grinned. "Yeah, I guess I am."
She smiled wryly, touched a hand to his cheek. "Guess I'll just have to keep you."
He gave her a genuine smile, then shifted slightly. He paused every few inches, as if to ask if it was okay, finally, he came to rest with his head in her lap.
Her hand trailed down his arm, back up, and over his back. She pulled her hand away stiffly. "I'm sorry. I just.... I never mean to..."
"Never mean to what, luv?"
She rolled her eyes at herself. "I never mean to keep touching you... I didn't realize that I missed that, too."
"Hey, love starved, remember? I don't mind. Hell, I love it!"
She chuckled softly, kept her hand tracing patterns on his back. "You did a number on my brain when you woke up."
He arched into her hand, the cat impression coming across clear as a bell. "Yeah, sorry about that. Stupid weird dreams."
She grinned. "That wasn't what I- Yeah... stupid wierd dreams."
He smiled at her. "No excuses, luv. What did you mean?"
"Satin sheets, plus naked Spike equals gormet salty goodness. Especially to a love-starved Buffy."
To his credit, he was actually suprised. "Really? I didn't even think about that when I picked them out. I just like satin." He arched an eyebrow at her. "But we have been winding up on eachother's beds alot, lately."
She arched a brow. Said dryly, "Wow, and what a quick way to end it."
He chuckled. "Come on, luv. You're human. Granted, superhuman, but human, none the less. How could you be love-starved? Especially with your pals."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "I might have missed being annoyed to death, and bothered on patrol. And snuggles. There was soooo an absense of snuggles. And smoochies. But.... ya know," she said grandly. "There are always people for that."
He nuzzled his head against her thigh. "I agree about the snuggling, luv." The last sentence sunk in. "Hey! What people?!"
She tried to contain a grin and smiled innocently. "Ya know. People."
"You better start giving me names and addresses, Slayer. I have some "people" to kill!", he ground out. But his tone suggested that he knew he was playing.
She 'Hmphed' him. "Dawn, and Xander, and Willow have been nice with the hugs and smoochies."
He rolled completely onto his back, his head still in her lap. "Well, just tell Harris that if he touches you, a big, scary vampire is going to kick his ass."
She blinked. Looked left. Then right. "Where!? What big scary vampire??"
He gave her a mock hurt look. "Hey! I'm big and scary. And I know I'm a vampire. I've got the fangs and bumps to prove it."
"Whooooo.... big scary vampire..." She intoned sarcastically. "Please don't hurt me..."
"Humph," he snorted, rolling over with his back to her. "I'm scary." That was almost a whisper.
She felt a wave of sympathy run through her. What was a vampire with a soul, but a human without a pulse? It really wasn't fair. She kissed his temple. "You're absolutely terrifying to the evil things you kill all the time. And the people running about who don't know you won't hurt them."
He rolled back over, a small smile on his face. "You really think so? If you weren't the Slayer, and you saw me growl at you, would I scare you? Forget the fact that you've seen my "puppy having it's belly rubbed" impression."
She nodded. "Completely terrified. And when you do the little jump towards the person after you growl? Whoo. No joke, first time you did that, Slayer or not, gave me a major wiggins."
He chuckled. "Now you're just playing with me."
She shook her head. "Hell, no. You scared me so bad. I was glad mom was around to help kick your ass."
Now he laughed out loud. "Ahh. Now that's a woman who was afraid of nothing. I knew she was there, I smelled her, but I never expected the axe."
Buffy grinned. "Mom bitched at me for a week, scaring a year off her life, and why didn't I stake you?" She laughed. "Then she has hot cocoa with you."
"Three separate times." He fingered the guardian angel charm that was still on the chain around his neck. "I'm having a sudden craving for cocoa. How about you, luv?"
She smiled softly. "Totally want the tiny marshmallows."
"You and me both."
TBC....